Clutch Shot Caps Late Rally

Clemente Sends 'canes To Date With Duke

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Hitting the go-ahead basket to provide the Miami Hurricanes with their first Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament victory, no problem.

Getting ready to answer a few questions after hitting the biggest shot of his brief collegiate career? Now there's a problem.

That's why a fully dressed Denis Clemente, who grew up in Puerto Rico and isn't confident speaking English, lingered in the showers for 20 minutes after Thursday's 66-63 win over Clemson, advancing Miami (16-14) to today's noon game against Duke (27-3), the tournament's top seed.

UM's freshman point guard tried to wait out reporters, who wanted to ask him about his 3-pointer that gave UM its first second-half lead in the game's final minute.

An admirable effort from a flu-stricken Guillermo Diaz -- the other half of UM's "Puerto Rican combo," as Diaz puts it -- enabled the Hurricanes to be in position to pull off the come-from-behind victory.

Diaz, who vomited before the game, led UM's late rally that trimmed the Tigers' 12-point lead by scoring nine of his 22 points in the final four minutes.

Before that run, just about every one of Diaz's shots was rimming out, and he was visibly drained sitting on the bench. But somehow Diaz mustered enough to turn it on when his teammates needed him most, preventing Miami from making its second consecutive first-round exit in the ACC Tournament.

More significant than Diaz's scoring in the final minutes was his assist to Clemente for the go-ahead basket, providing UM a 62-60 lead with 50.9 seconds remaining.

Diaz caught a pass, reversed direction while penetrating to the basket -- tight-roping the baseline to avoid stepping out of bounds -- before passing to Clemente, his childhood buddy who was wide open beyond the arc.

"That's Guillermo's guy," Haith said about Clemente, who came into the game shooting 24 percent on 3-pointers. "Denny has been a streaky shooter this year. But the one thing about Denny is he has a lot of toughness. He believes he can make plays. That's good and bad."

This time it was good because Clemente, contributing 10 points, four rebounds and four assists playing ahead of slumping starter Anthony Harris, hit the shot.

"Make it and that's a win, baby," Clemente said. "That's the game."

Not exactly. Clemson (18-12) still had a chance in the final seconds, but the Tigers' poor shooting (29 percent) ultimately caught up as senior guard Shawan Robinson (five points off 1-of-10 shooting) missed two 3-pointers that would have tied the game.

The win provided Miami its first postseason victory since 2002 and ensured that the Hurricanes leave the ACC Tournament above .500 no matter today's outcome against Duke. That raises the likelihood UM will land an NIT bid.

"For us to move on to the next round and have another opportunity to play Duke, I'm just excited," said Hite, who contributed his first double-double (15 points, 12 rebounds) of the season. "I'm looking forward to it. ... Hopefully, we don't have to worry about the flu slowing [Diaz] down."

Omar Kelly can be reached at okelly@sun-sentinel.com.

TODAY

ACC TOURNAMENT: No. 1 Duke vs. No. 8 UM

When/Where: noon, Greensboro Coliseum, N.C.

Broadcast: TV -- ESPN2. Radio -- WQAM (560 AM)

Records: Duke (27-3); UM (16-14).

Of note: Point guard Denis Clemente, who is coming off a 10-point performance in Thursday's win over Clemson, put up 10 points against Duke the last time these two teams met.... On the year, the Blue Devils have registered 495 turnovers, which averages out to 16.5 turnovers forced a game. Only five opponents have had more assistant than turnovers in games against the Blue Devils this season....UM junior Guillermo Diaz is four 3-pointers away from tying for fourth place on UM's all-time list for 3-pointers made.

--OMAR KELLY

SUN-SENTINEL.COM

For a photo gallery of Miami's win over Clemson, visit sun-sentinel.com/hurricanes.

Also, follow UM's game against Duke today online with our live scoreboard.